DTC Application Update: EastWest Bioscience Passes Due Diligence for FINRA Form 15c-211

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 19, 2019 / EastWest Bioscience (the "Company" or "EastWest") (EAST.V) announces that, further to its News Release on May 7th 2019, it has passed third party due diligence pursuant to FINRA Rule 15c2‐11 ("Form 211"), as part of the Company's DTC application. Form 211 clearance is important as it requires the Directors and Principals of EAST, in addition to the Company itself to pass the regulatory background checks and due diligence necessary to list in the U.S. Form 211 clearance opens the way for EAST to complete the DTC's due diligence and subsequently finalize the Company's application for listing on the OTC Markets QB Exchange.

"DTC approval is important for EAST in its evolution to create liquidity for its existing shareholders by opening the stock to new shareholders in the US. Stock liquidity is the ability (or ease) to buy or sell stocks without affecting the price. This means a stock that trades enough shares for the trader to sell it at any point in time is a liquid stock." states Rodney Gelineau, CEO of EastWest Bioscience.

The Depository Trust Company (DTC) is one of the world's largest securities depositories. Founded in 1973 and based in New York City, the DTC is organized as a limited purpose trust company and provides safekeeping through electronic record-keeping of securities balances. It also acts as a clearinghouse to process and settle trades in corporate and municipal securities.

Most of the country's biggest broker-dealers and banks are DTC participants. That means they deposit and hold securities at the DTC, which appear in the records of an issuer's stock as the sole registered owner of those securities deposited at the DTC. The participants-the banks and the brokers-dealers-own a proportionate interest in the aggregate shares of an issuer held at DTC. Bank X, for example, may contain a proportion of the group of shares of Stock BB that are being held in custody at the DTC.

About EastWest Bioscience Group

EastWest Bioscience is a vertically integrated wellness company with the infrastructure to become a global giant in the Hemp & CBD consumer health market. Since it was founded in 2016, EastWest continues to grow as a high-quality producer, manufacturer and distributor of multiple lines of premium health and hemp products. EastWest currently has more than 200+ NPN's in its stable of products.

EastWest's consumer product lines are divided into four distinct brands: 1) Natural Advancement - natural biopharmaceutical health supplements; 2) Earth's Menu - all-natural hemp superfoods; 3) Natural Pet Science - pet food and pet supplements; and 4) ChanvreHemp - all-natural health and beauty products.

In Canada, EastWest has a 34,000 Sq. Ft, Health Canada-licensed, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) - certified manufacturing facility and produces premium nutraceutical brands, offering natural products for a preventive care lifestyle. EastWest and Benchmark Botanicals (BBT-CSE) also have a Joint Venture Intent to accelerate acquisition of Processor, Analytical and Research and Development licenses under the Cannabis Act in EastWest's Penticton facility. These three classes of the Cannabis Act license will allow Benchmark and EastWest to build out an extensive extraction, laboratory, and research facility at EastWest's Health Canada Certified facility.

In the USA, EastWest USA has entered into a Joint Venture with Azema Sciences, securing for EastWest first rights on Azema's output of bulk CBD and finished CBD products manufactured, and which are ready for sale in the USA and globally. EastWest Science USA ("EastWest USA"), EastWest's US operating division, will be the preferred distributor for Azema's finished goods. These finished products will include CBD creams, tinctures and salves which are products not currently in EastWest's catalogue. Additionally, EastWest will have first right of refusal to all potential opportunities relating to Azema's Kentucky based CBD processing facility. EastWest currently has TSX Approval for sale of its consumer products in 21 US States.

EastWest's international expansion continues with reach into important key markets in New Zealand, Australia, and Asia through a distributor agreement with New Zealand Hemp Brokers. Headquartered in Rotorua, New Zealand, NZ Hemp Brokers have quickly grown to become one of the country's most trusted industrial hemp wholesalers, and New Zealand's only import/export broker specialising in hemp products. NZ Hemp Brokers is licensed by the NZ Ministry of Health to grow, trade in and process industrial hemp, are registered brokers and certified in hemp medicine by the NZ Hemp Foundation.